


Bad Reputation

by knitmeapony



Category: New World Magischola (Live-Action Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 06:32:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11938335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knitmeapony/pseuds/knitmeapony
Summary: Savia Eleanor Burke is determined to earn every bit of her bad reputation.





	Bad Reputation

Eight months from now, Savia Eleanor Burke will be lounging on a chair on her back patio, reading the newspaper and drinking her coffee.  She'll be wearing the  kind of robe you'd expect to see on someone racing through the moors at midnight [1] ;  it would certainly seem incongruous in the sunshine of a hazy winter morning, but perhaps not entirely out of place on an estate this well-appointed.

Savia will not be cold; both her chair and the table on which her breakfast [2]  sits will both radiate heat, enough to keep any small chill at bay [3] . There is nothing on the Burke estate that has not been artificed to within an inch of it's life, after all, especially when it comes to keeping the mistress comfortable.

Savia will smile at the front page of the newspaper, folding it in half so she can read it more easily.  ARTIFICIER LAB RAIDED, the headline will scream.   _Burke Estate Out of Reach on Virginia Isle_ , the subhead will scowl.  

Savia will snort, more irritated than amused, when she reads the caption on the accompanying photograph:  _Agents of DAWN [4] __carry illegal materials out of a lab thought to belong to known Infinite Gaze colluder Savia Eleanor Burke_.   "They can't even slander me correctly.  Member.  Allegedly I'm a  member , thank you very much."  

For all that her expression will be quite sour, Savia will not be altogether displeased to find herself the front page.  She will have been quite deliberately building her reputation since she left school, after all.  Let others be scions, titans of industry, high-society philanthropists; Savia will be all too happy to always be The Notorious One That Got Away.  

Plausible deniability had been her watchword at school.  She'd been involved with Blair Hadra's experiments, and while they went to prison she didn't even get detention. Her Artificing professor once called her final exam 'three-quarters of a weapon of mass destruction' and she'd gotten  _honors _ credit for it [5] .  She'd helped summon the Grunch, empowered it in the fight, and no one had ever seen her, right behind the line of fire, sabotaging as she went. She'd kept it's claws, wore them in her jewelry to the Graduation ball, and no one had even asked.  She still had plans to bring it back, one of these days.

And Savia won't change, not much.  In school or out, she'll do what she thinks she can get away with -- and then slightly more -- and somehow she will manage to bury it all.  Marshalls will surveil her, they will follow her, they will try to infiltrate her company and her estate, and they will over and over again come up empty [6]  -- until today, apparently.  

As Savia reads her paper, another woman will step out the back door of the estate, hurrying through the brief space of cold between the house and the patio. She will be pushing a pram [7] , and though she moves quickly the splash of cool air will be enough to wake up the baby within.  The baby will not really cry; they'll fuss more than anything, unhappy with even a short trip through the sunshine and the cold.  The woman will carefully adjust the baby's blankets before moving them from the pram to Savia's welcoming arms.

"Thank you, Theophania," Savia will say.  "I'm sure today of all days you'd rather not be here.  If you'd like to take the afternoon off…"  The woman will nod her head and mutter something polite and duck back into the house, all too willing to leave Miss Burke alone.  

Savia will shift in her seat, rocking herself and the baby in her arms just a little, letting them settle against the warmth of her body as she turns her attention back to the paper.

"Now let's see what kinds of trouble your mother's gotten into today," she'll say, quite conversationally; she will not believe in coddling or baby talk, after all.  "This particular newspaper is terrible, but it does tend to get all the gooey little details out.  Apparently I've been keeping a very secret lab on the mainland.  Now that's just ridiculous, isn't it?  Who ever said I kept it secret?  Secret and private are not the same thing, now are they?  No they are  _not_."

If Virginia [8]  had an opinion about the semantics of the article, they will keep it to themself, preferring to blink themself into a lazy doze again in Savia's arms.  Savia will favor them with an indulgent smile before turning back to the article.  " _The secret lab, known only to the rumored dark wizard _  -- now that's just rampant speculation --  _contained instructions for several kinds of illegal magics._   Which I suppose just means I have a good library."

She will levitate the newspaper in front of her with a flick of her wand so she can read as she eats her toast.  " _The laboratory also included a broad library of substances that are both illegal to obtain and generally known for use in creating dangerous potions and devices [9] __, including slagerods_."   She will make a face at that.   "Now you listen here,  mon chaton , if you ever end up a journalist I shall not disown you, but if you work for the  Voice  you will not be welcome home for Yule, I promise you that.  You just keep that in mind, hm?  Have a little more ambition than this."

She will lick a bit of jam off the side of her thumb before tucking into the rest of the newspaper -- half-filled with speculation about herself and her family.   Has the Scion of Burke turned to her mother's ways?  What happened to her mother? Why haven't her wives sued for divorce?   She will roll her eyes at each question as she finishes her coffee, all the way to the very last page.

For once, the back page will not be covered in gossip; it will be devoted to a full page Editorial.  _The First Child of the MAW [10]  is a Miracle: Protect Them At All Costs_ . "I couldn't agree more," Savia will say, taking a moment to stroke Virginia's cheeks with a gentle finger.  

And then, of course, she will read the article.  It will take the author somewhere around a thousand words to get to the thesis; they will be praising the MAW, they will be speaking breathlessly of the benefits to society, they will even speak of the place that Virginia will have in history.  All that is pleasing preamble, and Savia will not mind it in the slightest.

But then the author will get to the point:  _ therefore, we must urge the government to take custody of the child, and remove her from the company of such a dangerous and violent woman._

Savia will freeze.

"What did I tell them?" she will whisper, more to keep the anger out of her tone than for the sake of the noise.  "Did I promise to leak anything they like?  Yes I did.  Did I promise to stir up a controversy for their sales?  I have my response  drafted.   _Did I tell them to_ _ leave my child out of this_?"  Her jaw will flex, and her eyes will gleam dangerously.  "I did. I  _did_."

She will rise from her chair abruptly, enough to wake Virginia; they will fuss enough that Savia will shift them up to her shoulder, rubbing their back soothingly.  "It's all right,  _schmusebacke_.  Let's go inside for a bit, hmm?"  She will head for the doors to her home at a determined clip.  "Want to see something pretty?  Of course you do.  Watch this, sweetheart.   _Esplodare arancia_. " She will flick her wand tip back at the still-floating newspaper, and it will quite obediently burst into a shower of confetti [11] .  Virginia, utterly like their mother already in some ways, will gurgle their approval and make a bit of a grabbing motion in its direction.

"First we'll get you a little breakfast, and then we'll be giving that editor a piece of our mind, won't we?"

" _ Blrrrr _ ."

"That's right.  And then we'll put that piece of our mind straight through his window."

The french doors will slam behind Savia [12] , and the rest of their conversation will be lost to surveillance of all sorts.

* * *

 

 

 

[1]  She had several such robes, but this one will be by far her favorite;  [a one-of-a-kind Hathaway](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://knitmeapony.tumblr.com/post/162124750879/thinkivykink-virginianewman-wolk-morais&sa=D&ust=1503984627531000&usg=AFQjCNHwet3bEtRSGFxzDaT2eEJi6P50JA), custom dyed for her by their lead tailor.  The silver detail stitching at the wrists and collar, however, was all hers.  


[2]  Two poached eggs with a sprinkle of sea salt and wheat toast with blackberry jam, as it has been every day since she left school. Yes, dear and darling members of the clique, she has become a breakfast person.  It helps that she rarely gets out of bed before ten.  


[3] Beyond that, the Isle will have moved south for the winter.  One of the benefits of living on a magical island is that it is rarely too cold for filmy robes constructed for show and not for warmth.  


[4]  Specifically, the photograph will be of Savia's wives, Meridia and Quorinth, looking grim as they carry boxes out of her lab.  Each one will have their chin up, shoulders back, in three-quarter profile; each of them will be in a high-contrast outfit and their signature hats.  In short, they'll have come dressed for a front-page photograph, bless them. Savia will be proud of them for that.  


[5] The NoCoPoDe -- No-Contact Potion Delivery system -- will be in use in select institutions across the Magimundi.  The fact that the results can be unwanted and unpredictable means these will not be  _health_  institutions.   Savia will not mind; money is money, after all, and out of sight is out of mind.   


[6] They will say she is a Gorecaster, though she herself will laugh when accused. They'll say she has a body count, that she murdered her mother.  They'll forget the past and say she drove her father mad, that she's the reason he's in an institution.  They will say that she spends more time artificing weapons than fashion, that her storefront on Virginia Isle is a front, that she only goes down to the mainland for supplies.  They'll be almost entirely wrong, but Savia will never deny any of it.  "Reputation is its own defense."  


[7]  Not a stroller, not a carriage, but a pram.  Savia is nothing if not pretentious when it comes to accessories, both for herself and her children.  


[8]  Virginia Waspen Burke, first of their name, scion of the Great and Noble House of Burke, if they wanted it.  Savia had schooled herself repeatedly to not be disappointed in her child if they were not interested in the Unsoiled bloodline they were heir to. She'd managed to last three months so far without so much as a monogram on the child's clothing.  Her assistants and employees had a pool, with 200 leeuwendaalders to the one who guessed when she would crack and put the house heraldry on  something .  


[9] Savia will have learned by this point that 'possession of dangerous substances' is shorthand for 'we don't know what to charge you but by-god we'll think of something'.  


[10] MAW: Magical Artificial Womb.  Savia will remind you it should be the  Burke  MAW, thank you very much.  

[11]  In Croatan-orange, of course.  

[12]  They've been charmed to close and open with a force that suits her mood as she passes through; it's one of her favorite additions to the property.


End file.
